Russia Refuses to Respond to U.K. Ultimatum in Skripal Poisoning Case

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

Russia is refusing to respond to a deadline set by British Prime Minister Theresa May to explain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used in the poisoning of a former double agent last week.

“Rather than giving ultimatums to explain ourselves to the British government within 24 hours, it would be better if they complied with their international obligations, in this case, the convention banning chemical weapons,” Lavrov was cited as saying at a press conference by the Interfax news agency.

Lavrov also said on Tuesday that the British government had refused to provide Moscow access to materials related to the poison attack on Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.